Interesting fact:

The Olympic games originated in ancient Greece somewhere around 776 BC. From that date until 393 AD, the games were celebrated as a religious festival, a gift to the Gods. They were banned in 393 AD when they were deemed to be a pagan festival. The idea of the games was revived though in 1894, when a French educator by the name of Baron Pierre de Coubertin proposed they be revived. It was then, that the modern Olympic Games were born.